


Line in the Sand

by butterflycell



Category: Suits (US TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-16 01:47:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13043976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterflycell/pseuds/butterflycell
Summary: Harvey wasn't the one who discovered Mike. Jessica is the one to give Mike his big break, and it's Jessica who he owes with his life. When Mike's loyalty is brought into question, it's not so easy to separate work and play.





	Line in the Sand

**Author's Note:**

> Happy holidays! This is a gift for goddamnmikeross on Tumblr

**** “I’m going to pretend that whatever’s about to come out of your mouth is the truth and not some half-assed insult of a lie.” Jessica raised an eyebrow, her grip tightening on the kid’s hand as he stared at her dumbly. He was still holding onto the handle of the briefcase, lid tumbled open, marijuana scattered across the floor between them.

“It’s not mine.” He said, finally. And it was the truth, Jessica could tell, but it was stretching it a little thin. “Technically.”

“Technically?” She let go of his hand and folded her arms.

She thought it would have been harder to get the truth out of him, but she was pleasantly surprised. It was something of a cliche, but he’d read the room quickly, even in his shock, and had known how best to respond. Jessica respected honesty, and respected people owning the situations they found themselves in.

Less than an hour later, Jessica had a signed agreement to bring Mike Ross on as a consultant in the firm. 

 

*

 

Harvey was going to be a Senior Partner.

No.

Harvey was a Senior Partner, and the new title on the glass door to his office confirmed it. He allowed a slight smile to himself when it caught his eye, but otherwise took it in his stride. He had maybe six months before his ambition kicked into gear again and he set his sights on Jessica’s office. Or, more likely, Hardman’s.

He’d been as good as silent in the firm for years now, and for good reason. But they didn’t talk about that anymore. They had it under control and kept an eye on the situation, but it was very much in the periphery these days.

What was much more important to him right now was the manchild standing Jessica’s office, wearing the cheapest, off-the-rack suit Harvey had seen in a long time. It made him pause in his tracks. He took a step into the office and cleared his throat. The kid turned around, eyebrows raised, looking a little like a deer in the headlights.

“Ah, Harvey. I was just about to call you in.” Jessica breezed past him, taking her seat behind her desk. “Mike this is Harvey Specter, Senior Partner and heavy hitter. He’s who we send in when we need something closing. You’ll probably be working with him on more than a few cases.”

“Mike Ross.” The kid held out his hand and Harvey shook it, smoothly covering over any trace of surprise or alarm that had sprung up.

“Harvey, Mike’s a new consultant I’ve brought on. He has a knack for people and the law that I haven’t seen for almost a decade now.” Harvey pointedly ignored her smirk and let go of Mike’s hand. “I’m sure you two will get along just fine.”

“I’m sure we will.” Harvey fixed him with a long look before turning back to Jessica. “I’ve got the notes for the Landson audit report when you’ve got a minute today.”

He left them to it, taking a final look at the kid as he left.

He was young, late-twenties maybe, scruffy. Painfully naive, but there was something compelling about him. If he’d done something to pique Jessica’s interest and compel her to take such a gamble on him, then Harvey definitely wanted to know what.

Harvey was skeptical, of course. It only took Donna an hour or so to get the whole history of Michael Ross laid out in a file for him. For all that someone might have an innate talent, it didn’t mean you gave them a free right. Sure, the kid had had a hard upbringing, and had been in the wrong place at the wrong time a few too many times since, but he still had a morally grey streak a mile wide. Harvey didn’t like cheaters, of any kind, but someone who made a living helping the rich cheat their way to getting richer was never going to be someone he’d trust off the bat.

Harvey wasn’t a saint by any means, but what he was reading certainly didn’t endear him to Ross, no matter how fresh faced he was. It would be a while before Harvey was convinced. 

 

*

 

‘A while’ turned out to be, at least in part, the following morning.

Jessica had assigned Ross to his account, to ‘learn the ropes’ and Harvey had handed him the hardest, most petty task he could come up with, expecting it to keep him busy for the best part of two weeks. Only he came into the office the next morning to find Ross on his couch with a shit eating grin and the answer to his question.

They wrapped the case up in a matter of hours and billed the client an eye watering premium on having expedited the investigation process. 

“Hey, kid.” Harvey pulled Ross to one side after the meeting with Jessica to tell her the news. Ross was riding high on the rush of closing his first case, and there was something begrudgingly endearing about it. Harvey pulled out his black AmEx. “Did Jessica not tell you to get some new suits when she hired you?”

“I did.” Ross frowned a little and looked down at himself. “I spent five hundred bucks.”

“On how many?” Harvey raised an eyebrow. 

“Five?” Ross replied. He was smoothing his tie down in a way that Harvey could already tell was defensive. 

“Take this, buy some more. Donna will give you an address. Consider it a bonus for last night.” Harvey handed over the card and Ross frowned harder. 

“I don’t need fancy suits like yours to do my job.” The tie smoothing stopped. 

“No, you don’t. But appearances matter, and you’re a reflection of Jessica. If you look like you don’t care, it looks like Jessica doesn’t care.” Harvey fixed him with a look. “If it’s the money you’re worried about, I can always see to it that it’s taken out of your bonus if you get far enough to earn one.”

Ross took the credit card reluctantly, and a spark of annoyance flickered through Harvey. 

“I know how you were paying the bills before you stumbled into Jessica’s interview room. If you want to go back to that, be my guest. If you want to actually commit to something for once in your life, take the damn card.” Harvey turned on his heel and stalked away before he subjected himself to anymore of the kid’s someone-kicked-my-puppy expression. 

 

*

 

It took exactly five weeks and three days for Harvey to completely adjust his opinion of Mike Ross.

They were in the middle of a meeting and Mike got a call, and the idiot took it. He answered his cell in the middle of a partner meeting that he’d miraculously been invited along to, and Harvey noticed the flare of anger in Jessica’s eyes. He decided to intervene before she could get to him. Mike might be her protege, but that certainly didn’t give him carte blanche. 

Only, the kid was nowhere to be found for the rest of the day, so Harvey covered where he could for Jessica’s sake. With the file he’d had Donna put together when Mike first started, it wasn’t too hard to guess where he might have disappeared off to. Harvey was proven right when Ray pulled up to the retirement village on the far side of Brooklyn and he checked the visitor’s log. Mike had arrived that morning and not yet signed out. 

He made his way back to the car to wait, letting Ray choose the music has he went through emails on his cell. He waited for maybe an hour before the movement at the door to the reception caught his eye. He looked up to see Mike make his way outside and pause, meeting his eye for a moment through the lowered car window. Without a word, Mike walked straight to the car and got in.

“I’m sorry I disappeared.” Mike began, voice guarded. 

“No, you’re not.” Harvey cut him off, looking back through his emails, giving Mike a rare chance to try again. 

“My grammy had a fall this morning. Nothing major, but she was pretty shaken.” Mike looked out of the window, back at the home. Since Mike had been working for Jessica, he’d not spoken to Harvey about his life outside of work. He’d had no need to. Harvey knew it all, of course, that was part of his job, but it was different to hear it first hand.

Harvey paid him a little more attention as Mike continued. “Management wanted to discuss her care package and we spent a while coming to a new arrangement. I figured the day was a write off by the time we were done, so I had dinner with her and played a few games of chess. I haven’t been able to spend as much time with her as normal lately.”

“Were you able work something out?” Harvey looked over. Mike paused for a long moment before he nodded. 

“Just about. A few extra care visits in the week for now.” Mike looked back over his shoulder. 

“I’ll talk to Jessica, see if I can smooth today over. You have the right to re-negotiate your pay at the six month mark, too, if it’s needed.” Harvey pocketed his cell and gestured for Ray to set off. Mike lived more or less on the route home for him, so it would be an easy drop. 

“Thanks, Harvey.” Mike smiled and Harvey, for the first time since meeting him, smiled back with his guard down. 

“It’s easy to forget the rest of the world sometimes.” Harvey said, as they pulled up outside the old walk-up Mike lived in. For a brief moment, he remembered the moment Donna’s words had sunk in about his dad. It didn’t hurt any less, regardless of the time that had passed. The guilt still lined his throat like an oil slick. “Make the time.”

Mike turned to look at him, and Harvey knew he was being assessed. He let it happen though, staying level until Mike nodded, thanked Ray, and got out of the car. 

 

*

 

Harvey had stared at his office ceiling on many an occasion. There was nothing particularly interesting about it, just white tiles in squares as with all office buildings. The services were probably in the space above, with steel and concrete slabs forming the structure.

He’d slumped back in his chair, or lain back on the couch on many an occasion, sometimes tossing a baseball up, over and over, a kind of meditation as he tried to wind his brain around a particular puzzle or nuance. 

This was more of a cliche though. 

He was lying on his back, shirt and pants wide open, hair in disarray and series of love bites trailing across his collarbones. It was two in the morning. 

For the past month, Jessica had farmed Mike out for Harvey’s use, the two of them taking lead on a high profile, high stakes, high stress case which had been on the brink of consuming the company. They’d spent days cooped up together, learning how to work in sync to navigate the trickier aspects, and it had been the middle of the night when something between them had fallen into place. In a matter of hours, they had found the needle in the haystack. 

Three hours later, they had the plan to close down the case the following day. 

Fifteen minutes after that, Harvey knew the feel of Mike’s ass in his hands and the taste of the pulse in his neck. 

“On a scale of one to castration, how angry is Jessica going to be?” Mike leaned his head back on the couch by Harvey’s hip, twisting it to the side to look over at him. 

“Not at all, if she doesn’t find out.” Harvey raised an eyebrow. 

“Are we talking about the same Jessica here?” Mike fixed him with a look. 

“It’s none of her business, you’re not my subordinate and there’s nothing in the company by-laws that prohibits… fraternisation on any other grounds.” Harvey sighed and pushed himself up on his elbows. “Next time we’ll just keep it out of the office.”

Mike sat up as well and watched him for a moment. He climbed up onto the couch and straddled Harvey’s hips, crowding him back down against the seat. “How about the time after next?”

Harvey tugged Mike’s head down towards him and kiss him hard, biting on his lip in a way that made his answer perfectly clear. 

 

*

 

It was an odd feeling to change a set of habits to fully ingrained that you did them on autopilot. Every weekend, more or less, for the past decade, Harvey had started his Saturday with a run through Central Park. He had picked up coffee and breakfast from the deli on the corner of his block, and a newspaper from the stand out front, and had spent the rest of the morning reading the sports section. 

Over the past six months, his weekly habit had become somewhat disrupted. The first time Mike had stayed the night, he’d forgone his morning run for one later in the day. It was a one off alteration, and it had been more than worth it. 

But Harvey was finding that he liked Mike, more than just as a colleague, or a convenient partner to let off steam with. When they’d first been forced to work together, Harvey had found that he appreciated his dry wit. He couldn’t help but smile when Mike picked up on a movie quote and fired one back. By the time Mike was heading back to work with Jessica, they’d fallen into step with each other. 

The next time he’d stayed over, Harvey had allowed for the disruption again, but he’d gone down to the deli for breakfast and coffee for two, and headed back up before Mike had woken. 

When it started to become clear to Harvey that Mike staying on a Friday night was the new normal, he decided to rebuild his routine. If Mike was going to be a somewhat permanent feature, then he needed to find a balance.

And that meant that he went back to his early morning run through Central Park, stopping to pick up coffees and breakfast for two from the deli, but only one newspaper. Mike had built up a tidy stack of novels in the living room, which had started with one accidentally left and had just started to grow over time. Harvey would usually come back to find him stirring, awake enough to hand over coffee and food but not quite enough for conversation.

By the time Harvey had had a quick shower and found his way back into bed, Mike had had a couple of mouthfuls of caffeine and they spent the morning eating bagels and trading barbs over the morning crossword. 

When did he trade waking up with a Victoria’s Secret model wrapped around his waist for the weekly crossword with a grouchy smartass who had the world’s worst circulation?

“Get your feet off me.” Harvey didn’t even look up as he flinched away from the ice-blocks Mike called appendages. 

“Eight across is ‘marsupial’.” Mike ignored him, reaching over to point before worming his way into Harvey’s space to get a better look at the paper. He handed Harvey his coffee and fetched his book once Harvey had taken the drink. 

“I’m not above kicking you out of the bed.” Harvey jotted in the word and crossed out the clue. He felt Mike shift again, an arm moving around his waist, cold hand pressing into his hip and settling into the small of his back. 

“You could just get me some socks.” The rest of Mike’s body was more than warm enough for Harvey’s liking. “Made out of polar bear fur. Or kittens.” 

“It’ll be an easy Christmas, then.” Harvey adjusted himself to let Mike settle closer still. He didn’t say anything about the custom Rolex he had on order, or the first edition copy of 1984 he’d bought on a whim. Christmas was still a couple of months away, but Harvey liked to be prepared. 

“My hero.” Harvey smiled a little at the wry tone of Mike’s voice, knowing he wasn’t all that convincing. Mike had gotten a read on him fairly quickly once they’d started spending more time together away from work. 

“I’m surprised you haven’t lost them to frostbite already in that shoebox of a bedsit.” 

“You like my shoebox. It’s cosy. It reminds you of the days before you ascended to Mount Olympus.” Mike rolled his eyes and turned the page of his book. Harvey sipped his coffee, looking out of the floor to ceiling windows at the city beyond. 

It was a little misty outside, some of the clouds still clinging to the tops of the buildings. The weather had been brisk on his run, an extra five minutes needed to warm up enough to be comfortable. He loved being in the heart of the city, being so close to Central Park and to work. Buying the condo had been the point at which he’d known he’d really made it in this world. Mike’s analogy wasn’t far off. It was a symbol of his wealth and his power, his position and standing in the upper layers of Manhattan society. 

But it was also his home. Now more so that ever, really. 

 

*   
  


Less than a week later, Harvey’s precarious attempt at domesticity found itself on the edge of a cliff. 

“This is going to need the whole firm.” Jessica looked grim, standing at the front of the conference room, looking around at the gathered partners. “There will be a chinese wall going up within the firm, and any breaching of that wall will lead to immediate dismissal.”

Either side of this merger would have been a significant case for them. Taking on both was an absolute test of their strength, not so much in the complexity of the work as the ability for their ship to hold water. Harvey knew why Jessica had agreed to it. She wanted to prove definitively that she did not need Hardman. The fight to remove him had been gruelling, had almost torn them to irretrievable pieces. Jessica had held them together through bullheaded stubbornness and an inability to admit defeat. A year on, she wanted to dispel any and all doubts. 

“I’ll be heading up the team representing Winsom Incorporated,” Jessica gestured to herself, “and Harvey will take on the Schaeffer brothers. Louis will remain outside the merger deal to oversee the firm in general. All partners will be assigned to either Louis or the merger by the end of the day.”

And with that, the meeting dispersed. Harvey followed Jessica back to her office to begin negotiating their teams. 

It began smoothly, the divide falling fairly naturally for senior partners. They were both well versed with all of them, knew strengths and weakness, and had a fairly complementary set of opinions about who they each wanted to work with. Juniors were harder, with both arguing for and against several key individuals, but several of these could be farmed over to Louis for the general firm. Associates and paralegals were easier again, Harvey exchanging an associate or two to get Rachel Zane on his team. 

She may be a paralegal, but she was sharper and more intuitive than any associate currently in the bullpen. 

“That just leaves Mike.” Harvey flicked the notepad closed, ready for Donna to write up and email out later. When he looked up though, he wasn’t expecting the expression he found on Jessica’s face. He tried not to react. 

“I think we both know that he won’t be joining your side of the merger.” She fixed him with a look and Harvey felt his stomach churn slightly. “Needless to say, the best way to preserve the wall will be to limit any interactions outside of work as well. But that won’t be a problem, right?”

“Not at all.” Harvey met her gaze and shrugged slightly. Jessica almost definitely didn’t believe him. She’d known him for too long. More to the point, Harvey knew her, and he knew that she was more than just pissed.

“With any luck, we’ll be done by Christmas.” She said by way of dismissal. Harvey nodded and took his opportunity to leave. 

They had the rest of the day to resolve or hand off anything which couldn’t be handled alongside the merger. Which meant Harvey had the rest of the day to work out what to say to Mike. 

And now it made sense that he would be out of the office in meetings all day. 

Because Jessica knew, and now she was testing them. 

Harvey wasn’t ashamed to admit that most of his day was focused on that. The rest of his work load was almost trivial, with only one case needing to be passed off to Louis. His other work was mostly paperwork, with a couple of contract renegotiations to cover in the next couple of weeks. But at the same time, he hadn’t expected the situation with Mike to be so present. It would be a month - six weeks at most - that the merger would span across, unless something went very, very wrong in the middle of the process.

A month in the middle of such a high profile case was nothing. 

A month without seeing Mike in any kind of social capacity at all felt like a decade. The potential for that to stretch even longer made something in his stomach tighten. 

At some point in the afternoon, he texted Mike to tell him to come round for dinner. They’d order pizza, or thai maybe, and they’d talk about what was about to happen. Because Harvey knew this was a discussion to have together. He couldn’t wake up tomorrow and go about work as if nothing was going to be affected. He couldn’t do that to Mike. Regardless of how casual or serious their relationship had become over the past few months, if he wanted it to continue after this, they had to go into it on the same page. 

More than anything, that thought concerned him. He’d become so used to Mike’s company, and it had become so much of a priority to him. Harvey didn’t do relationships, didn’t do commitment. 

Apart from he did - or he had, in the past. Before Harvard, living with his dad through college, trying to guide Marcus through his shit. Family had always been the center of him, only in recent years, family had become Donna and Jessica and the firm. Family had become himself and his own needs. 

And now family, apparently, was Mike too. 

He finished his day in relative silence, Donna fielding any and all demands on his time. She’d sensed the mood immediately and gotten on with it. He said a quiet ‘goodbye’ as he left, and could not have been more grateful to walk through his front door. 

He poured himself a scotch, spinning an icecube in the glass for a moment before resting it against his forehead. Something small and sad had settled in his chest at some point during the day and he sipped his drink as he felt it out, eyes wandering over the slowly waking city outside and his own reflection. By the time the knock at the door came, his glass was empty. 

“Jessica knows.” Mike didn’t bother with a greeting, just looked at him with a grim expression. Harvey nodded and gestured for him to come inside. 

“The Schaeffer Winsom merger, the firm is dividing around a chinese wall.” He fetched Mike a beer and poured himself another scotch. “Jessica made it clear that you wouldn’t be working on my side of it.”

“Which means either we carry on as normal but don’t speak about anything work related, or we don’t see each other at all until it’s done.” Mike took a long drag of his drink and scrubbed a hand through his hair. “We both know what Jessica’s expecting.”

“Of course. This is payback for not telling her. She’s pissed.” Harvey crossed the room, he needed distance. 

“Shit…” He heard Mike sigh heavily. “Of course she is. She gave me the opportunity of a lifetime and she found out I’m screwing around behind her back. I owe her everything. And you’re her right-hand man.”

“We didn’t do anything wrong.” Harvey said, trying to swallow back the bitterness starting to build in his throat. 

“Not legally, no. Morally? Maybe.” Mike shrugged, then shook his head, “No, definitely. How would you feel if you were in her situation?” 

Harvey met Mike’s eyes in the reflection in the window and felt himself retreat. He knew where this was going and he needed to pull back before the hot wash of embarrassment started to rise. He’d clearly had the wrong end of the stick with this whole thing, and that was so unlike him. There he’d been, thinking that the evening would be filled with discussion and reassurance that whatever tentative thing they had between them would be okay. He’d been expecting a talk about how to work around Jessica, maybe. He certainly hadn’t expected this, which was his own fault. He should’ve seen Mike’s loyalty a mile off.

“I’d be pretty pissed.” Harvey looked away and downed his drink. Of course Mike would defend Jessica. He owed Jessica far more than he owed Harvey. “I guess that’s that then.”

“Just for now. Afterwards we can talk about things properly.” Mike put his beer down on the counter and Harvey watched him glance around the room before heading a little closer. Harvey turned away, closing himself off and Mike stopped in his tracks.

“Sure. If everything goes smoothly, it should be a month. Maybe two. I know the clients are hoping to be locked in before the holiday period.” Harvey turned, defences fully in place again. “I’ll see you in the first round of negotiations, I’m sure.”

Mike watched him for a long moment. Harvey knew he was being read and made sure that Mike was seeing the right thing. Mike finally nodded and backed away towards the front door. He murmured a goodbye, but Harvey didn’t acknowledge it. The sad feeling in his chest had grown a size or two and was making him feel a little ill. But it was now more complicated than it had been that afternoon. 

He finished his drink and ordered in something to eat. He didn’t pay much attention, too busy alternating between feeling foolish and feeling abandoned.

 

*

 

The Winsom Schaeffer merger had the potential to be sealed tight within a fortnight, so long as all the parties included agreed at all points. 

The Schaeffer brothers ran a small but incredibly successful hedge fund. They’d taken a small pool of family money and, over the past five years, rocketed themselves into the big leagues. They’d caught the eye of Winsom Inc two years earlier, and had all but integrated in that time. The merger would be the official combining of the two, hashing out the finer details of the partnership. Winsom had the collateral that the Schaeffer brothers needed to continue their growth, and the Schaeffers had the uncanny ability to read and exploit the international markets. Both parties stood to earn close to a billion in the next five years if the merger was handled correctly. 

Harvey was in his element, combing through the nuances of the contracts that were starting to be drafted. He saw Mike once over the first week, in a meeting between the main stakeholders, himself, Jessica and small teams from each side. All the rest of the meetings had been held, so far, by just Jessica and himself. 

For the most part, he was too busy to miss the crossed paths and brief conversations that had started to break up his work day.

The first weekend in, it was a little jarring, to have his old routine back in place. But it wasn’t the end of the world. Harvey enjoyed having the day to himself in the end, reading through the latest draft of the contract and identifying things to address the next week. 

By the end of week two, he’d adjusted again. He’d passed Mike in the corridors a few times and was able to exchange a polite greeting without feeling himself force a smile. The chinese wall had seen the firm temporarily divide across two of the floors that they occupied in the building, but Harvey and Jessica remained in their offices.

It was almost a game at this point. Jessica knew the rules - as did the rest of the partners - but he couldn’t help but see signs that maybe Mike wasn’t so comfortable with it. He wasn’t used to the vague air of cool hostility that hung around the office, and he definitely wasn’t used to it from Harvey, not anymore.

He couldn’t dwell on that though. He had a merger to negotiate and a deal to broker that made sure his clients retained the majority share in their company’s profits under the proposed umbrella arrangement. 

 

*

 

The last of the ink dried on the contract on the twenty-third of December, shortly before seven in the evening. The deal was done, and the Schaeffer brothers would be moving from making millions a month to hundreds of millions. Winsom Incorporated would give them more money to play with in exchange for a percentage of the net profits on each transaction. The merger was indefinite, but held clauses for renegotiation of terms at certain points in the future. 

Harvey and his team - Rachel in particular, who had worked through the night with Harvey on several occasions over the last month - had put together the deal of the century for the Schaeffers. Jessica’s team had done something similar for Winsom Incorporated, and Harvey had witnessed first hand why Jessica had employed Mike. 

At one of the final meetings, Winsom’s executive officer had been starting to put up resistance, changing his mind on details that had been in place since the beginning. Mike had sat at the edge of the room, observing up until the point where he took control of the debate and smoothly placated the man back into his seat in a way that left him feeling completely in control. To Harvey, and probably to Jessica, it was clear that Mike had done the opposite. He’d gently teased away the issue and left the guy thinking he’d released it on his own merit. He’d done it with a friendly demeanour and a firm application of legal speak and reasoning.

Mike was damn good. 

And wasn’t that just the problem. 

Harvey wrapped up the last of the paperwork needed on his end and shut up shop. He stood and waited for Donna to finish then took her out for dinner. As always, she had done her job admirably, even saved his ass on one uncomfortable occasion midway through. But getting the merger completed in only five weeks would have been near impossible without her help. 

So Harvey treated her to dinner and cocktails at her favourite uptown restaurant and made sure she had a healthy end of year bonus sitting in her next paycheck. 

He went home happy and a little buzzed that evening, letting himself collapse onto his couch in a rare display of childishness. It always felt good to close a deal like this. He closed his eyes and smiled, enjoying the quiet around him for a moment. 

Right up until his doorbell sounded. He sat up with a frown. 

“Hi.” Mike was standing there, hands in pockets, and looking decidedly nervous. 

“Everything okay?” Harvey frowned a little more. It was almost midnight, and Mike hadn’t text him ahead of time.

“Can I come in?” Mike asked. Harvey gestured for him to come inside, following him as he made his way automatically into the main room. Mike paused at the end of the kitchen island and glanced around. It was only then that Harvey looked around the room too and realised that he’d put most of Mike’s things away in drawers and cupboards. 

“Do you want a drink?” Harvey went to pour himself a scotch and Mike nodded. 

“Sure, a drink would be good.” Mike watched him and took the glass carefully when offered. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Harvey fixed him with a look, but Mike didn’t meet his eyes. “Mike?”

Mike rubbed at his eyes briefly before taking a sip of his drink and putting it down. “I’m fine. But I can’t tell if we are.”

Mike looked up at that and Harvey frowned again. A bitter corner of his mind wanted to rebel at Mike having chosen Jessica, but the rest of him was just confused. 

“Why wouldn’t we be?” Harvey shrugged. 

“I know we were supposed to stop everything whilst the merger was underway… but I didn’t expect you to be so…” Mike trailed off and gestured half heartedly. Harvey felt a sharp spike of irritation. 

“You knew the deal, Mike. Chinese wall, all socialising gone.” Harvey turned away and paced towards the windows. His good mood was rapidly fading away. It was easy to forget sometime that Mike’s hadn’t even been in the industry a year, that he was still about as green as they came.

“I know, but I didn’t think it would mean you’d turn into a total stranger.” He saw Mike throw his hands up in the reflection in the glass and paused to consider his response. 

“That was the deal,” he repeated, sipping his scotch. “If you can’t separate work and play, then maybe Jessica was right.”

“What does that mean?” He turned to meet Mike’s confusion. 

“Putting us on opposite sides was to prove a point. You can’t sleep with someone you work with and be trusted to make objective decisions that put the good of the firm first.” Harvey levelled a look at him. Mike said nothing. Harvey could see the cogs churning in his head and they were silent for a long moment. He wasn’t sure if it was the tone of his voice, or if Mike was really just that good at reading him, but something in his expression changed.

“You’re pissed that I chose Jessica over you.” It wasn’t a question. 

“Yes.” Harvey nodded. 

“You’re pissed that I didn’t even stop to think about it.” Mike took a couple of steps closer. 

“Yes.” Harvey stayed where he was. 

“I didn’t mean it to come across like that.” Mike said, slowly closing the gap between them. Harvey said nothing. “I didn’t mean to leave you thinking that this didn’t matter to me. I’m sorry, Harvey.”

He was standing right in front of him now, hands curling into the front of Harvey’s shirt. The bitterness at the edge of his mind was already fading. It felt good to be close to him again, to let down some of the barrier he’d held in place. 

“There’s a ‘this’?” Harvey asked. Mike looked at him, eyes skating across his features. He nodded and leant in, kissing Harvey soundly and Harvey couldn’t help but sigh a little and kiss him back. God, he’d missed him. 

Mike eased the drink from Harvey’s hand as he pulled away a little. Harvey let himself drift closer, following as Mike pulled him back across the room. He left the drink on the kitchen counter as they passed and Harvey just watched as Mike moved around his space like he belonged there. 

He pulled Mike to a stop and slid a hand behind his neck to reel him in and kiss him hard. He’d missed him, and he wanted Mike to know that. Mike kissed him back, teeth skating over his lip as he pressed himself completely into Harvey’s body and the last of the distance between them closed.

 

*

 

They’d signed the merger on a Friday, which had been either a stroke of luck or complete coincidence. 

It meant that Harvey and Mike had spent the majority of Christmas Eve together in bed, ordering in for breakfast and lunch and cooking together for dinner. They fell right back into the routine they’d built up, with crosswords and coffee and novels. It felt like any other Saturday for the most part, which was good, but as the day wore on, the weight of Christmas started to make itself known. 

“Do you have plans?” Mike asked tentatively, focusing on his task of loading the dishwasher whilst Harvey stood at the sink. 

“For tomorrow? No.” Harvey shook his head. 

“I’m going to go see Grammy, have lunch with her.” Harvey paused to watch him, noticing the creep of a flush rising up his neck. “You’re, uh, welcome to join us if you’d like. I mean, I’d really like you to. If you wanted. That is.” 

Harvey smiled to himself and turned back to finishing up the washing up for a few moments. “That’s a very kind offer, but I wouldn’t want to intrude. I can’t imagine you’ve spent much time with her lately, you should enjoy the day while you can.” 

“I’m really looking forward to seeing her.” Mike agreed. “How about you come by for dinner? Just for an hour or so in the evening?”

“Mike…”

“No, I mean it. Christmas is about family.” He cut in, turning to face Harvey. “Maybe you aren’t quite family yet, but I want to spend some of tomorrow with you, too.” 

Harvey sighed and pulled out the plug and he put the last of the knives on the drying rack. It had been a long time since he’d spent Christmas with anyone other than himself or Donna. He’d gotten used to the solitude. Mike seemed genuine, but when did he not? 

“Okay. I’ll come by for dinner.” He nodded and Mike’s face lit up in a shy smile. 

It was a big move for Harvey, and maybe for Mike, to meet the only living relative he had. Harvey would be lying if he said he was looking forward to it, but it hopefully wouldn’t be a total disaster. He may have a couple of gifts already sitting in the back of his closet, but this would be something that meant a hell of alot more to Mike than an expensive watch. 

“We can come back here after, and spend the rest of the evening watching trashy sci-fi and eating candy.” Mike promised, straightening up and wrapping his arms around Harvey’s neck with a grin. Harvey wrapped his arms around Mike’s waist on instinct, holding him close and feeling the last of the day’s tension ebb away. 

“That sounds like a pretty good Christmas to me.” Harvey conceded. 

“I can’t wait.” Mike said. 

He leaned in and kiss him slowly, and Harvey just enjoyed the moment. He let himself hope, deep down, that this might just be something that was here to stay. Harvey kissed him there in the kitchen until he felt himself shiver in the cool night air. He let Mike smooth over the gooseflesh on the back of his arms and pull him back into the bedroom and under the covers, where he pulled him close and kissed him again. 


End file.
